304 Sir S. Saunders' Notes on the 



On the other hand, the recognition of sectional dis- 

 tinctions and subsidiary alhances is of no mean value 

 amid an extensive series of divergent types, which must 

 otherwise entail inextricable confusion in the absence of 

 such discriminating tests. 



Dr. Sichel has remarked that, setting aside the peculiar 

 conformation of their terminal segments, " les Phasga- 

 nophora resemblent aux autres Chalcidoides,et pourraient 

 meme etre reparties comme sous-genres dans cette tribu, 

 dont la plupart des genres auraient ainsi leurs repre- 

 sentants et leurs sous-genres correspondants dans toutes 

 les coupes generiques de I'ancien genre CJialcis. Ainsi 

 on pourrait entrevoir des a present qu'il existe des 

 Phasganophora a antennes inserees au milieu du front et 

 a petiole allonge (P. smicriformes) — ou court et presque 

 nul (P. cludcidiformes) — et d'autres a antennes inserees 

 pres de labouche {P. halticelliformes)''' (p. 350). But he 

 could see no reason in this for abolishing those genera 

 whose characters are founded on sexual distinctions ; 

 while — as he pathetically adds — " personne cependant 

 n'a songe a les supprimer" (p. 351). He also elsewhere 

 observes — " Toutefois il y a, comme toujours entre les 

 genres voisins, certaines transitions qui pourront quelque- 

 fois rendre la distinction difficile quand le nombre des 

 especes sera devenu plus considerable" (p. 385); but it 

 can hardly be alleged that the greater the number of 

 species the less the need of sectional divisions, or 

 that it will become the more expedient to amalgamate 

 them all together on account of such presumable transi- 

 tions ! 



Walker, in his ' Notes on Chalcidiae,' when commenting 

 on Halticella and its allies, observes that "the species 

 are numerous, and there are many which agree with Dr. 

 Sichel's definition of Phasganophora'' ; but he anticipates 

 a very different resu'^t therefrom when he considers it 

 " probable that in process of time the species of this 

 family will he partitioned among an excessive number of 

 new genera" (p. 40). 



It must at any rate be obvious that, where habits are 

 more or less identical, structural afdnities afford the best 

 test and true criterion of natural alliances, the guiding 

 principle being to determine this result by means of such 

 an index ; and when, as in this instance, the pioneers 

 of progress have recognised special distinctive cha- 

 racters, to abandon this vantage ground by retrograding 



